


An Unsolved Puzzle

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 18:32:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13619202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: A retelling of part of the episode Smart Alec





	An Unsolved Puzzle

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2018 Sentinel Bingo prompt 'Smart Alec'

 

An Unsolved Puzzle

by Bluewolf

Professor Buckner had never been Blair's favorite lecturer at Rainier. Buckner had an inflexible mindset that said anyone younger than eighteen shouldn't be at university. He wasn't even happy with those who were still seventeen, just a month short of eighteen; and even once they were eighteen, he still believed that they had entered university too damned young.

And Buckner had been assigned as Blair's adviser when, at sixteen, Blair started his university career.

After a few weeks of Buckner's not-so-subtle denigration of everything he did, Blair had nearly quit to go to another university. Fortunately, Dr. Stoddard had realized what was going on, and pulled strings to get himself appointed Blair's adviser. After that, Blair was happy.

Buckner had not been happy when Blair was appointed as a TA, though in the face of Stoddard's approval he was forced to appear accepting. But while he didn't go out of his way to make life difficult for Blair, neither did he make any attempt to make life easy for the TA.

And if there was one person Blair didn't want involved in his affairs it was Buckner.

Unfortunately, Blair had been expecting a crate from the Yucatan and when it didn't arrive, he went down to the department that dealt with incoming mail - including parcels.

"Hi, Doreen. I've been expecting a crate from the Yucatan for a day or two now, but there's been no sign of it. It might have been delayed in transit, of course, but is there any chance it's been sent to the wrong office?"

"Hold on a sec." Doreen checked a list. "There was a small crate came in from the Yucatan two days ago... Yes. It was delivered to Professor Buckner."

Blair frowned. "Sandburg, Buckner - the two names aren't exactly similar."

"We do try to be careful," Doreen said. "Maybe he was expecting something as well, and his came in but yours hasn't yet. You could try checking with him."

"OK, Doreen, I'll do that. Thanks."

Blair was not happy as he turned, heading for Buckner's office.

Once there, he knocked and went in.

Buckner looked up. "Blair? Just a minute." He finished writing something, then put his pen down. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry to bother you," Blair said, "because I know that you're busy, but I've been expecting a crate from the Yucatan and central shipping said that they sent it to you by mistake."

Buckner frowned, as if thinking, as Blair went on. "It contained a Mayan urn, 12th century, from Chichen Itza."

"Sorry, Buckner said. "I haven't seen it."

"Doreen was pretty certain they'd sent you a crate."

Buckner shook his head. "I'll keep an eye out for it, but wherever it went to, it wasn't here."

"Okay," Blair said. "Thanks." He turned to go.

"Blair - " Was that a fractionally tentative note in Buckner's voice?

"Yeah."

"While you're here... you know who Alec Summers is?"

"Everyone knows who he is. Kid genius from Canada. Came here on a big scholarship. Physics major, right?

"That's only part of it. Add architecture and neurolinguistics and anthropology."

"What? This kid must love to study."

"No," Buckner said. "He's a perfect example of why I've never thought very young students had any place in a university. I wasn't happy when you arrived age sixteen, but you at least did the work. Young Summers hates to study. Nothing holds his interest; how he has the knowledge he does, goodness knows. He misses classes. He doesn't turn in assignments. He's in danger of flunking out."

Blair's jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me? With his IQ? Hmmm - he must have a photographic memory."

"And parents who knew how to keep his nose to the grindstone. He needs a faculty advisor."

Blair saw right away where this was leading. "No! Don't do this to me!"

"Just meet with him."

"I'm sure he's a nice kid," Blair said, "but I don't have the time! You know I'm riding with a cop researching for my doctorate - that takes up a lot of my time!"

"He's a brat," Buckner said. "He's headstrong, stubborn, utterly convinced he is the only soul on earth who has a clue. In short, exactly like, uh... "

"Like me when I first got here and you were my faculty advisor? But you just admitted that at least I worked! All right. I'll talk to him, Professor."

But he knew he didn't really have the time to be advisor to anyone. All he had in common with this kid was he knew what it was like to be attending university at a very young age. But at sixteen he had loved studying... and how had young Summers acquired the knowledge he had if he never studied?

***

It didn't take long before Blair found himself totally agreeing with Buckner. Alec Summers _was_ a brat - a brat who seemed to take great pleasure in proving his elders wrong.

Blair was close to thoroughly disliking him - and it took some doing for Blair to dislike anyone. But then Alec turned out to be severely arachnophobic.

While not himself actively arachnophobic, Blair was cautious around spiders that he knew to be poisonous - fortunately only a very small percentage of the many species around were - but it was the same sort of caution that he gave to man-eating lions. However, remembering his own fear of heights - or should that really be fear of depths, because what he was afraid of was the potential for a possibly lengthy fall - Alec's arachnophobia gave him a mild sympathy for the boy.

And, he had to admit, Alec's attitude could well have been defensive. Blair had found it difficult enough to be accepted by his fellow students when he was sixteen; the age difference had been enough to make him stand out. The age difference would have been even more marked with a fourteen-year-old.

Ultimately, he knew Alec had made the right decision when he decided to leave Rainier and go home. Time enough for him to attend university when he was eighteen, and old enough to be fully accepted by his peers. His high intelligence would still make him stand out, but not as markedly.

As they finally left Rainier, having solved the deaths that took them there, Blair found himself slightly sorry that Buckner had been among those dead. At the same time, though, he felt that Buckner had asked for it. Whatever had made him agree to bring dangerous live insects into the country in the first place, he had learned the hard way that having become involved with criminals it was not a good idea to terminate that involvement.

And Blair knew he would never understand how a valuable Mayan urn that should have been sent to him had ended up as a cheap replica full of insect larvae sent to Professor Buckner. And where was the original urn? Probably sold by whoever had sent the fake to Buckner.

The things some people did for the sake of money!


End file.
